A colorful salad that's a feast for your whole tongue!
I couldn't decide what I wanted for lunch the other day.
Sweet? Spicy? Savory? Salty? How about all of the above?
Since we had just returned from a short trip on the Intracoastal Waterway to bring our little sailboat home, the cubboard was a bit bare, but there were a few things there that could be combined to make somthing good, I was sure.
A plantain, some green onions, some Sriracha sauce....a little of everything, just like I like it.
Tradition holds that the human tongue only has four basic tastes: bitter (which is recognized on the back of the tongue), sour (which is recognized on the side of the tongue toward the back), salty (which is recognized on the side of the tongue near the front) and sweet (which is recognized at the front of the tongue). We all know, of course, there are a lot more tastes than just those four. Some theories include savory and even fatty as flavors recognized by most people.
I don't want to risk boring my tongue, so I love to combine flavors of all sorts. My favorite mix is sweet and salty...you know, french fries and chocolate shake, fruit and pretzels. Uh, doesn't anyone else eat those things?
So, looking for a combination of flavors, I came up with a great meal that looked a little Christmas-y without even trying.
Christmas-y Plantain Salad
2 ripe plantains, cut into thin slices1 tablespoon sugar
3 green onions, white and green parts, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Sriracha hot chili sauce, to taste
Kosher salt, to taste
Oil for frying
- Fry the plantain slices in the oil with a dash of sugar sprinked over each slice.
- Add the green onions and garlic. Fry for just a minute, just until the onions soften up a bit and the garlic begins to turn golden
- Drain the mixture and arrange on a plate.
- Drizzle a bit of the Sriracha sauce on the plate. (Warning: this Chinese chili sauce is HOT so use it sparingly until you know how much heat you can stand!)
- Dust the assembled plate with a bit of Kosher salt and enjoy.
Vegan.
